"Each of us is accountable to himself and to the others on our defense," said Drew after Saturday's 49-0 homecoming rout over Central Michigan. "We're confident in one another. If the play goes [right cornerback] Vince Thompson's way, I'm confident he'll make the play, just as he's confident I'll make the play if it comes my way."

This type of accountability and confidence, plus three touchdowns and 165 rushing yards by Michael Turner, improved NIU's winning streak to four and its record to 5-3 overall, 4-0 in the MAC. Central Michigan dropped to 3-4, 1-2.

"No question this was the best defense we played all year," Huskies coach Joe Novak said. "The players have an air of confidence. They're enthusiastic. Their enthusiasm rubs off on one another.

"Vince Thompson is the catalyst of our defense. The other kids feed off him."

The Huskies' defense limited the Chippewas to six first downs and 170 yards, an average of 2.8 for each of their 60 plays. They held CMU to 1-for-16 on third-down conversion tries.

This third-down toughness forced 12 Chippewas punts, and sophomore Dan Sheldon returned nine of them for 119 yards, both Huskies records.

"The confidence from our defense stopping them on third down spilled over to our offense," said Sheldon, who also caught four passes for 47 yards and gained 38 yards on two rushes, 25 on a reverse and a 13-yard TD with a lateral.

The Huskies' defense so stonewalled the Chippewas that coach Mike DeBord said, "maybe only 30 seconds of the game went our way--the first play."

Taking advantage of the Huskies' aggressive blitzing, Derrick Vickers and tailack Robbie Mixon hooked up on a 45-yard screen pass to NIU's 35-yard line on the game's opening play. That represented more than 20 percent of the Chippewas' total yardage.

On the next play, linebacker Nick Duffy nailed Mixon for a 2-yard loss, the first of nine plays for negative yardage. The pass rush and the active nickel secondary unit of Akil Grant, Justin Dole, Devron Francis, Drew and Thompson then forced three incomplete passes.

"We weren't shaken by that first play," said Thompson, a senior from St. Rita. "There was lots of football left to play."